Dance Skins
by TokioJapon
Summary: Dance Central Characters in a Skins format. These young characters in their struggles of coming of age and understanding the world and each other. Leads slightly into DC3 later. Altered character relations and slight A/U to balance out the characters. R/R please.
1. Emilia: Part 1

_**A/N**_

_**LOL, I love doing skins versions of things. Since Dance Central has legit young attractive characters, what better way to add some development and to also make a fic for a show and game I love than to combine the concept with DC characters! Please Read, review and enjoy of course.**_

_**Rated for Language and some Sexual Content later. **_

Summary: Emilia's been feeling numb since her boyfriend stopped treating her like number one and her family and friends seem to neglect her. When she decides to put all of herself into her exercise and training, she realizes how far she'll push herself, and how it may push away the people she loves.

Episode 1: "Emilia" _Part 1 :Calabria 2008_

Emilia heads down the school halls to see her boyfriend Bodie. They had been dating for almost six months and she was ready to remind him it was their anniversary soon, even though he never forgets things like that.

"Hey." He casually says in his smooth voice.

"Hey babe." Emilia smiles and bats her green eyes.

"How are you?" He asks.

"Oh I'm great." She leans on the locker.

"You're wearing your hair out today, very stylish." Bodie says.

"Uh-huh." Emilia nods. She's just trying to make him remember. She just stares and stares until she thinks it hits him.

"Well…" Bodie staggers as Emilia continues to look at him. "I've got to get to the beach for work. I'll catch you later Ems." He kisses her cheek and heads off. She stands there on the locker-

-Totally pissed.

"I can't believe he forgot our anniversary's in a few days." Emilia glares out the window in Angel's car while the wind messes up her hair.

"I'm sure he was fooling." Aubrey texts and sympathizes at the same time. "Bodie doesn't forget cutesy stuff like that."

"He seemed totally unaware. He remembered our month anniversary, he remembered my birthday. He never acted like this."

"Calm down. I bet he has something special planned." Angel says from the driver's seat. The girls were in the backseat of his Cadillac like he was their chauffer.

"Oh, not every guy's as thoughtful as yoooou Angel." Aubrey doesn't look up from her phone as she mocks Angel. She knows he's had the hots for her since before he graduated last year.

Emilia sighs. "Since senior year started, we haven't been talking a lot."

"He's probably stressed hun, just give him some space." Aubrey says.

"Yeah…"Emilia frowns. She's dropped off at her apartment building and heads to her floor to change so she can go to the gym, like usual. Her dad was at work, and she assumed her two little brothers were at the basketball court as they usually are on weekdays after school. It was just another Tuesday, and Emilia's never been more paranoid in her life.

As she heads out to walk to the gym she notices how disgusting the things around her are. The rundown buildings in her neighborhood, the half crumbled sidewalks, the potholes, the ill-kept parks and playgrounds, the homeless bums and the foul smell of the environment.

Emilia never thought to be someone who would want to clean up an entire community. Maybe when she was younger, but now that she was a senior in high school, the idea was less than soothing.

It was 3:00PM when she got to the gym and it was 5:00PM now.

"Shit." She had been there an extra hour and didn't even notice. She liked how working out felt. Getting pumped was something she loved. That's why she was not only a black belt, and a great dancer, but also the most physically fit girl at her school.

After showering and changing, the athletic girl head out to the streets and back to the apartment to finish up her homework. She rarely had anything to do on Tuesdays. She checks her phone and sees a couple of new messages.

Aubrey: _Wicked party Friday, we should all go. Great way to spend your anniversary righ?_

Parties had come less and less. Junior year, Emilia, Aubrey, Angel and their good friend Danielle(Better known by her pseudonym, Dare) would be at every scene, lately, it's seemed like nothing but work and worrying. A party was just what she needed.

Emilia: _Definitely_

She texts back, and then she checks her other messages,

Bodie: _High tide season's coming up. boss wants me to work extra shifts at the beach this week. Hope we don't have any plans.:P Sorry babe_

Emilia stared at the text. It was his job, but they did have plans this week. He really did forget their anniversary she thought. She didn't text him back. When she got home she locked herself in her room. It felt like she couldn't talk to anyone, but she knew someone would listen. She didn't know why she had been feeling so bad lately. Maybe stress, maybe because graduation was coming up. Whatever it was, she hated the feeling and decided to call Aubrey.

"Hey Ems, what's up?" Aubrey said on the other line.

Emilia sighs. "We're definitely hitting the scene Friday night.

"Wonderful, but you sure don't sound too happy. What's up hun?"

"Bodie's stuck lifeguarding all week because of freakin' high tide season." Emilia explains.

"I'm sure he'll be getting paid overtime. You know, so he can take you out." Aubrey hints, slightly giggling.

"Bullshit!" Emilia screams and the other side of the line is silent. "Sorry. It's just that he and I haven't been talking as much lately."

"Well hun, if he isn't making you feel happy, maybe it's time you two took a break. I mean he has things he's dealing with too."

"I know. I just wish he would talk to me." Emilia says dejected.

"Well if he won't talk, make him." The red head suggests.

"Yeah. Definitely. I guess it'll have to wait until the weekend though. I'll just try not to think about it. Thanks Missy."

"Anytime Ems. Ttyl."

"See ya." Emilia says and Aubrey hangs up. The brunette drops to her bed. Her joints were a bit sore but nothing she wasn't used to. It was early, but she ended up falling asleep on her bed.


	2. Emilia: Part 2

Episode 1: "Emilia" _Part 2: Firework_

Emilia rode the bus to school for the rest of the week. Bodie would usually take her, but he had been sleeping-in lately thanks to his extra shifts. She hated riding the bus. It was full of loud obnoxious students and there was a fight on it every other week. There was also some gang violence thanks to her heavily Latino neighborhood.

Emilia herself is not of Latino descent, having an Italian father and an African-American mother. Their move to the debauched neighborhood happened after Emilia's mother died three years ago and her mother's side of the family abandoned Emilia's father as well as her and her brothers. Since then her father's been working strenuously at the local post office and insisted on Emilia focusing on her school work. The stress she had been feeling lately had really been cutting at her though.

Friday couldn't have come slower.

It was around 7 when she was getting dressed at Aubrey's house. She had jogged there straight from the gym. Aubrey was talking her ear off about how much she loved the dress she had on and how it was 'only' $200 and a steal at the downtown brand-name stores. She told Emilia how she should borrow her earrings and wear her hair out like earlier in the week. The brunette wasn't nearly as hyped as she had been earlier in the week. In fact she had been felling really tired lately.

"Oh come on Em, what's up now? It's finally party time and you're all stiff." Aubrey says.

"I've been really hitting it at the gym this week." The brunette explains as she rubs her shoulder.

"Is that why you didn't turn in that lab report?" Aubrey asks and Emilia slouches on the leather seat in the huge room.

"I've been tired."

"You've been pushing too hard. You'll fall behind in your work and then how will you get into a good college?"

"Aubrey I don't want to hear the mom thing. Not from you. YOU HAVE EVERYTHING." Emilia says harshly. Aubrey tries to open her mouth but can't get a word in. "You're right SOME, no MOST of US have to get good grades to make it into a good college, but what about you? What struggle will you honestly have Aubrey?" Emilia says harshly without realizing it. Her eyes were dark and Aubrey's face went from blank to hurt. It sinks in what she had said to her redhead friend after a minute.

"Oh my god Missy, I'm so sorry," Emilia stood.

"No, it's all right. I was a little out of line, but you know, if you need any help, one little check form my daddy wouldn't hurt."

"No, no. My dad would never accept that Missy." The brunette says.

"Well I'm only saying." Aubrey hugs the brunette. "We all need a little bit of help when the going gets rough."

"Well thanks Aubrey, but really, it's fine." Emilia forces a smile then pulls away and sits back down.

Aubrey heads toward her closet now. "By the way, you're already in fabulous shape, hun. Slow it down before you tear a ligament or something." Aubrey says.

"Yea yea." Emilia looks into the vanity she's at.

"Want a massage?" The redhead says after laying some shoes out.

"What, you have one of those in your house too?"

"A masseuse? No, only on Sundays when daddy's home." Aubrey says and Emilia rolls her eyes. "I can give a good shoulder rub." Aubrey then says like it was common knowledge.

"Says who?"

"No one." Aubrey puts her hands on Emilia's shoulders.

"Angel?" Emilia smirks and Aubrey squeezes her tendon. "Ow!"

"Watch it Olympian. Angel and I are just friends." Aubrey says.

"All right, all right" Emilia lets herself get comfortable as the redhead continues to massage her neck and shoulders. "You're not too bad at this."

"Yeah. I know." Aubrey then leans in front of the vanity and grabs a pair of red hoops. "Now put these on and I'll go get your dress." Aubrey scurries off happily. Emilia frowns as she puts in the expensive looking jewelry. Her ears were pierced, but she seldom wore earrings.

The dress she ended up wearing was very tight, but in a good way. It really accentuated Emilia's slim athletic figure; Red also looked good on her. She could have gone without wearing the heels though, but Aubrey insisted.

"You look so hot," Aubrey says before they entered the club after being picked up by Angel.

"Definitely. _Muy caliente_." Angel says smiling.

"Hey, eyes up here." Aubrey sneered at the Latin man.

"You'll gonna be the _estrella mas brillante_ in the club, Aubrey." He says sweetly.

"_Gracias,_ Angel. But, that's Miss Aubrey to you." The red head says curtly and turned to the bouncer as they were at the beginning of the line in no time. She simply showed the bouncer the platinum charm bracelet on her wrist. "Me plus 2,"

"Could you make that 3?" They heard a handsome familiar voice from behind.

"Bodie!" Emilia hugged her tall boyfriend.

"I wanted to surprise you! It is our 6 month anniversary." He smirked.

"You remembered…" The brunette suddenly felt warm inside and thought she'd tear up. She punched Bodie clear in the gut. "I thought you forgot. Don't get all weird like this again!"

Bodie groaned as he slouched and held his stomach in pain. "Well will this make you feel better?" He held out a small black box.

Emilia tried hard to contain her excitement. "No." She took the box and slowly opened it. Inside were ruby earrings and a matching necklace. Her heart pounded. It was perhaps the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given her.

"That's your birthstone, July 29th, Rubies." Bodie stood up. He had a pretty high pain tolerance so he shook of the punch. "I thought it would be a cool half year pre-"Emilia cut him off with a passionate kiss, a really sweet stolen type of kiss. A kiss that let you know it wasn't the present, but the thought that really made her happy.

"Thank you." The brunette says. They hadn't even entered the club yet.

"You're welcome." Bodie says warmly.

"Well are you two coming or not?" Aubrey made her diva face.

"No." Emilia took off the high heels and handed them to the redhead. "I think we're gonna go get a bite to eat." She smiled at her handsome hunk.

Aubrey could only smile as she held the red heels. "Well fine. You two crazy kids have fun." She said. After they were out of sight, she then handed the heels to Angel. "Give these to some bimbo. I won't be holding them all night." She whispered.

Emilia and Bodie decided not to go eat as neither of them was all that hungry. Instead, the blonde headed for the woods. Bodie's red 2001 Camaro was parked on a road right before the woods.

"There could be a killer out here you know." Emilia kidded.

"Yeah. I got my machete in the trunk." Bodie smiled and Emilia laughed it off. "I wanna show you something." The blonde says.

"Okay." Emilia was in sneakers now, but still wearing Aubrey's likely to be very expensive dress.

"You don't mind getting that pretty dress a bit dirty do ya?" He asks as they head down the dark path.

"It's Missy's, she won't mind." The brunette shrugs.

They soon reach a lake that twinkled in the starlight.

"Aww Bodie." Emilia says. "This place so pretty." She head toward the dock and watched the water and the sky.

"Yeah, me and my brother's would come fishing here all the time." The blond says.

"Sounds fun." Emilia smiles and falls into Bodie's arms.

"You know what else fun is?" Bodie asks. Emilia only smiles and pecks his lips. "

Well yeah, but not that." He says.

"Then what?" Emilia asked.

"You're not going commando are you?" He asks casually.

"What?! No! Why?" Emilia got frantic.

"No reason." Bodie backs away then smirks. He pushes her into the lake and then he cannonballs in after her.

"Bodie!" She laughs and swims and shakes out her hair she recently put up only to have it pushed back down.

"Haha, sorry."

Emilia laughs. "Well if you don't want me mad, you'll have to catch me." She goes free style and dashes through the water.

"Oh come on, I've been swimming since I was a guppy!" Bodie races after her like a sea creature. She didn't get far as he held her tight and they just floated on the surface of the water.

"I think a fish just bit my foot." Emilia says calmly.

"Yeah they do that." He says lightly as he held her. They gaze into each other's eyes. Their faces soaked. Emilia's face was covered in her darkened brown locks. Bodie simply pushed them away and lays his lips on hers.

She smiles.

"Let's go before we get sick."

"In the middle of Spring? Come on, it's not that cold."

"Okay Aquaman, you can stay in here for as long as you like." She says, and then heads for shore. He follows her. They sit on the dock and she rests her head on his shoulder.

They stay like this for a time.


	3. Emilia: Part 3

Episode 1: "Emilia" _Part 3: What is love?_

It was around 3am when Emilia had gotten home. She knew she had to be up to help her dad, Valente, in the morning, but she was exhausted. Emilia would help her dad out at the post office he worked at in the morning and assist him in organizing the mail. It was a tedious job and he had to do it early by himself every day. She decided awhile back that she would help him on weekends and holidays, but today she wasn't up for it.

"Emilia." Her dad knocked on her door. She was in a deep sleep though. He left her and his sons for work.

She had finally woken up. She realized how late it was and knew her dad had left hours ago. She sighed. She was going to start breakfast for her and her brothers; just eggs and bacon. The smell would attract her brothers, Marco and Antonio (Also called Little League by the local boys) from their rooms as they always slept in until at least 11 on the weekends.

When they hadn't emerged from their rooms, after she finished breakfast, she went to check on them. They weren't there.

"Marco? Antonio?!" She called. She went to the front door of the apartment and saw it was unlocked. She ran out in only her sneakers, pajama pants and a camisole and head straight to the basketball court where she thought she'd find them. They weren't there either but she saw a friend of theirs sitting at the park.

" _Ay mami_, what's with the night clothes?" The slick, young Latino boy said.

Emilia sighed. "Manny, have you seen my brothers?"

"Marco and Little league? I thought they went home. They said they were gonna go get you." He said.

"For what?" Emilia asked.

"That huge gash in Little League's eye." The young man said.

"What?! What are you talking about?"

"These jackasses from Delores Avenue came down here messing with us so Marco and me were gonna send 'em back uptown." The young rebel started and Emilia held her head in annoyance.

"But then Little League came running in while one of those Delores guys was aiming for Marco, but he hit Little League real good in the eye. That really pissed off Marco. That's when I pulled this out," Manny pulled a switchblade from his pocket. "Scared 'em off real quick." He opened and covered the blade repeatedly.

"Manny! Give me that." Emilia snatched the closed blade.

"No! Ay, I just got that!"

"Yea, and you're not getting it back. Where'd they head off to?"

"They head around the corner like 15 minutes ago." Manny said.

Emilia sighed again and she felt like she was getting a migraine. "Thanks Manny."

"Can I get my blade back?" He asked. She'd known Manny since he was little, he was rough but he wouldn't use that knife if he didn't have to. She tossed it back.

"Don't get in any trouble with that Manuel, or I'll tell your mom."

"Sheesh, Emilia." Manny sighed then smiled. She then heads around the corner to the pharmacy a family friend owned.

When she arrived there, she saw her brothers in the waiting area. Antonio, the younger, was sitting there being cleaned up by an older Latina. Emilia's oldest brother, who was 12, was standing there. He saw Emilia came in.

"I called you. You didn't go to work with dad this morning."

"You didn't tell me you were leaving. Manny told me what happened. Why didn't you just let it go? Getting wrapped up in that gang mess."

"You don't get it. Those Delores guys were messing with my boys! I had to stand up for them."

"These 'boys' will get you killed. You saw what happened to Antonio!" Emilia said and her brother pouted. She turned to her youngest brother.

"Are you okay baby?"

"I only cried for a little bit when it happened. Not anymore though. It doesn't hurt that bad." The 8 year old tried to sound tough but his chubby cheeks and cute face kept him from being the slightest bit intimidating.

"That boy hit him hard. He's lucky it wasn't too close to his eye." Maria, the proprietor of the pharmacy, said. She was a friend of their mother. "He won't need stitches, but that cut will need to be cleaned. I'll put some gauze over it. He doesn't seem to have a concussion or anything either, thank God."

"That's good." Emilia sighed as she held her baby brother's shoulders. She looked to Maria. "These kids are gonna kill each other."

"IT's these gangs, these kids treat it like a game." Maria said for going behind the counter for some supplies.

"It is not a game! It's about honor!" Emilia's oldest brother exclaimed.

"Marco, we are not Latinos, we're Italians. Stop acting like some gang member and focus on your family."

"Family? All week you've been hanging out at the gym or with that blonde guy. You haven't been home with us like you used to, you've been with him. That's why I'm gonna take care of the house now. We don't need you." Marco said harshly.

Emilia looked at her youngest brother, to the older. "Marco, be quiet." She said.

"We don't! I needed you to help me and Antonio but you weren't there. You were knocked out asleep because you were out all night with that dude. Me and Manny protected Antonio, you didn't! I brought him here because you were too lazy to come help!"

That made Emilia smack her brother. Hard enough to turn his head slightly and make his whole cheek red

"Shut up!" She shouted. Her face was reddening and she was fuming mad. Her brother's eyes filled with water. She had never hit her brother in his face. He held his cheek then ran out the store.

Emilia didn't know what to do, she was so angry. Maria had come back with the gauze and covered the little one's cut.

"I'm all done. Emilia, take care of your brothers. You're the closest thing to a mom they have now. You know that."

Emilia sighed. "I know." She wasn't able to look the woman in the eye right now. "I know." She assured Maria and herself.

The older woman stepped back behind the counter as a customer had come in.

"Let's go Antonio." She took Little League's hand and walked him home.

Marco had head home so Emilia decided to keep the boys inside for the rest of the day. She warmed up the eggs and bacon and they idly watched TV. Emilia knew Marco was angry with her, but she felt so bad herself, she didn't know what to say. Her being tired put her brothers at risk, but Marco shouldn't have left with their little brother without permission.

It stressed out Emilia when she thought of what could have happened. She attempted to look over her homework but it just made her head hurt. She decided not to do it and when all out on the punching bag in her room.

"EMILIA!" She heard her father's voice. Again, she had become absorbed in her work out. It was 7 now, and she hadn't even started dinner. She stepped out of her room.

"What the hell happened today?" He father said.

"What do you mean?" She asked. So much had happened.

"First, you don't wake up, then not starting dinner, and then there are the bandages on my son's head! What happened?"

"Marco and Antonio snuck out this morning and got into a fight with some gang from uptown."

"And where were you?" He asked harshly.

Emilia wasn't sure how to answer. A lump formed in her throat when she thought of the reason for her absence. "I was asleep."

Her dad looked down. She could tell the entire situation was giving him a headache and raising his already high blood pressure. He turned to his sons who pretended to not listen to their sister be chewed out.

"Do you boys want to go out for pizza tonight?" Their father asked.

They both hopped up in agreement. Their father looked at his only daughter. "Are you coming?" He asked.

"Nah. I'm not feeling very hungry." She said. He nodded and smiled at his boys. They left the apartment and Emilia was alone.

All she wanted to do was punch that punching bag and lift until she was numb.


End file.
